Reactions to a Visit with a Death Row Inmate

In this column, I share my reactions to a visit with a death row inmate which occurred on his twenty-second birthday in November 2007.  At the time, I participated in a seminar of doctoral students at Vanderbilt University who were exploring practical ways of designing course curricula for future pastors.  I offer the unedited text of a memorandum which I wrote to the class.

5 December 2007

To:                  Colleagues in the “Practical Theology and Religion in the Global Context” Doctoral Seminar

From:             Victor Michael Singletary

Re:                  My Reactions to our Visit with Mr. Detrick Cole, Death Row Inmate                            Riverbend Maximum Security Prison

I leave a visit with a death row inmate with four competing emotions and thoughts.  First, I am angry because I know the difference that a zip code can make in the decision to sentence the person to death.  The charade of a just process equally bothers me because in most instances the “machinery of death” operates on automatic churning undeserving individuals and families into its blades like a formidable Mack trash truck.  The confluence of poverty, substandard education, familial dysfunction, inadequate legal representation, mental illness, prosecutorial political ambitions and misconduct (suppression of evidence, coerced confessions, rhetorical excesses, etc.), and the race of the victim congeals into a capital sentence.  Second, I usually regret the failure of the Church to intervene in the life of inmate.  Both Detrick Cole and Abu Ali Abdur-Rahman insist that had they been taught the love of God they would not have ended up on death row. 

Third, these visits help redefine “The Great Commission” for me.  Lest evangelism lapse into a spiritual version of “American rugged individualism,” the process of making disciples should include preventing the escalation of the number of death row inmates and other people in socially precarious situations.  I leave wondering what practical and effective program can be established to reverse this trend.  I see such a need as a particular prerogative of the Church, generally, and the Black Church, specifically.  Where do we begin?  How do we begin?  Fourth, although I remain steadfast in hope, I am overwhelmed by the experience.  Attempting to remedy this cause seems like such a Goliath.  Yet, I realize that other activists in the past fought successfully with fewer resources.

The entire time that we visited with Detrick I did not see a typical death row inmate.  I saw a princely man with incredible potential who assumes responsibility for his actions and possesses a reasonable remorsefulness.  I remain startled that he was sent to death row at twenty-one years of age.  Are we so jaded and cynical of a society that we refuse to consider the possibility that someone of his age could reform his ways and find personal transformation.  In addition, I saw a young man who was failed by many persons whose responsibility it was to demonstrate to him how to find his uniqueness and gifts.  Consistent with the position of Atty. Brad MacLean, society through its indifference and acquiescence of systemic inequities changed this talented young man into a death row inmate.

I appreciated Detrick’s willingness to assume responsibility for his actions.  He did not plead innocence.  Yet, he adamantly states that he does not deserve death because he did not commit “first degree premeditated” murder. 

As a pastor, I welcomed Detrick’s assurance that he does not harbor any resentment toward the Church.  I accept his recommendations for empowering youth ministries in local churches.  It is amazing just how important a vibrant youth group is in the lives of the children and adolescents who attend!  Imagine the countless felons and murderers whose course of life could possibly change if the Church most directly prioritized evangelizing this demographic of society.

I share the disdain of another member of the seminar for the rather “chipper” attitude of our escort to Unit 2.  Mr. Smith (obvious change of name) seemed absolutely oblivious to the gravity of our visit and its emotion magnanimity.  Quite possibly, Mr. Smith needs this dissonance to do his job.  However, his loquacious pride about the security mechanisms of Riverbend and its ability to thwart any escape attempts lead me to believe otherwise.  In addition, I found the guards equally detached from the human implications of their jobs.

I am pleased to learn of Detrick’s determination to obtain his General Equivalency Diploma and his growth in Christian education.  Those goals yield another way in which the Church can minister to incarcerated persons.  He also reminded us of many other inmates at the Riverbend facility other than the death row inmates.  Further, he mentioned the perennial Christmas gifts of toiletries and other permissible items.

Summarily, I continue to discern the best method for me to incorporate my heartfelt concern into to practical and productive ministry.